Ma Soeur
by frustratedstudent
Summary: Of Eponine and her two youngest brothers. In 1831, Eponine finds herself in a dilemma involving Magnon, Mamselle Miss, and two little boys she cannot help but care for.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Deception**

_November 1831_

"What would I do to get away from the water?" Eponine wondered aloud as she stuck her hand in her mouth if only to prevent hunger from overtaking her. The gnawing hollowness in her stomach seemed to somewhat balance out the heavy chill in her feet that were still wet with the putrid river water from under the bridge where she lived. In the November morning, Eponine was a pathetic sight: her hair was matted, she'd lost yet another tooth the day before, and her clothes were full of holes. But she did her best to wash her face and hands before setting out; now her skin was reddened from the effort.

The skinny sixteen year old boldly walked up to the house that had been pointed out to her. "I wonder if they'll take me. Magnon is always busy with something, and Mamselle Miss too. So they could use someone to sweep the hall."

With her hands trembling, she knocked on the oaken door. "Maman! Someone's outside!" a child called from within the house. Moments later, Eponine heard footsteps padding towards the door before it opened slightly.

"You? The Jondrette girl?" Magnon asked critically.

Eponine nodded. "I need to earn a few sous for my sister. She's sick. Papa is out, I don't know where. Maman doesn't know what to do." 

"What can I do for you?" Magnon asked, opening the door more widely. The older woman was dressed rather gaudily, with a heavy string of stones around her neck and a silken blouse. Still, the effect was richer than that of Eponine's ragged dress.

Eponine held on to the doorknob. "Let me work. Cook your food, sweep your hall...anything, take care of your house...your child even..." 

"Child?" Magnon said. "Oh yes. You heard him. Well, it's only me who has anything to do with them. But if you are eager to work for five sous a day, then I could let you sweep the hall, wash our clothes, and clean up the backyard."

"Oh, _merci_ Magnon!" Eponine said, almost grabbing the woman's hand. "Parnasse was right to tell me to come here."

"By the way, he's not allowed to visit you here, not while you're working for me," Magnon said coldly, showing her in.

The house that Magnon and Mamselle Miss lived in was a rather stately affair, well-furnished even by criminal standards. As Eponine peered in, she caught sight of two well-dressed little boys playing on the stairs. Their chatter was lively, and their cheeks rosy as they rolled marbles down the steps.

Mamselle Miss, an elegant yet steely-eyed Englishwoman, watched them from nearby. At the sound of the door closing, she looked up from her knitting. "I was almost afraid it was the bourgeoisie from the Rue des Filles du Calvaire," she said to Magnon.

"Oh, he's not due to visit for some time. But he'll pay next week," Magnon said flippantly. "You remember Eponine Jondrette? Well, she's here to help out."

"Of course I do," Mamselle Miss said. "My you've grown, little girl."

Eponine looked down. The truth was, she hadn't grown much at all, at least not in recent memory. "My sister is sick," she simply said.

"I'm sure she'll get better soon," Mamselle Miss said soothingly.

"Did you say Rue des Filles du Calvaire?" Eponine asked.

"Oh yes. Why you have a friend there?"

Eponine colored slightly. "Oh something about the grandfather of a young gentleman who I sometimes see going about in his old clothes. He used to be rich, so some of the men at the cafes used to say when I'd ask..."

Suddenly, one of the boys, the younger one, began to cry as he looked around. "Maman, I lost the marbles!" he wailed over the older's teasing.

Magnon quickly went up to him. The child sniffled and buried his face in her skirt. "They're under the table." he sobbed.

"Don't worry, _petit_, we'll get them with the broom," Magnon said, nodding to Eponine. 

However, the waif did not hear her. Eponine's eyes were on the little boys, taking in their reddish hair, their bright eyes, the rather crooked lips, and their plump hands.

"I remember Maman's two smaller ones...so long ago..." she whispered, staring at the children.

"Eponine?" Magnon asked. "Go get the broom!"

The girl snapped out of her trance. "Oh!" she exclaimed, hurrying to the cupboard, feeling more confused than she ever had before.


	2. The Reasoning of Day

**Chapter 2: Reasoning of Day**

As soon as Eponine could get out of the house, she lost no time in seeking her sister. She first checked under the bridge where she'd last seen Azelma, but to her consternation, the younger girl wasn't there.

"Zelma! Where in God's name are you?" the teenager called as she wandered down the street. She skipped across the Place Saint-Michel, towards the Rue de Gres. 

As she peered in one of the windows, she caught sight of a scraggly young boy throwing rocks at the birds. "How now, Vroche?" she greeted her younger brother.

Gavroche turned to look at her merrily. "Ponine, there you are. Zelma is inside, with some gentlemen. Don't know whatever for," he said, thumbing his nose.

Eponine shot him a look of disgust as she went inside the Musain. "Azelma, you were lying," she accosted the girl dressed in an old but rather pretty gown at the table.

Azelma crossed her arms indignantly. "I did feel bad this morning, I swear!"

"Gavroche is outside. He said you were with someone?" Eponine demanded, grabbing Azelma's dress. "I had to go find work, just to get you medicine. I'll tell Maman you lied, I shall!"

"She does that too, what does she care, as long as we're alive?" Azelma shot back, pushing at her sister's hands. "Let go!" she howled.

"_Mademoiselles!_" a young man's voice burst through the din. Eponine felt a hand separate her from her sister. She found herself staring at a well-dressed student, with his dark hair neatly slicked back, and a confused look on his face. "What is this all about, Azelma?"

Azelma looked at the young man. "My sister is angry at me, Courfeyrac!" 

"Sister?" Courfeyrac laughed. "I didn't know you had one!" He turned to Eponine and offered her a seat. "_Mademoiselle_, you can call me Courfeyrac. What's your name?"

"Eponine," the older girl replied sullenly. She sat in the chair and picked a bit of grit off her arm. 

Courfeyrac smiled at her cordially. "Would you want anything?"

Eponine looked at him suspiciously. "And what am I to do?"

"Nothing," Courfeyrac replied.

Eponine smiled at him bitterly. "_Monsieur_, surely you do not mean...but well, I'm here to tell my sister the news...you know that Magnon's got two sons, right?"

Azelma nodded. "And why?"

Eponine leaned in. "They're our brothers. Oh don't you remember the two little ones born after Vroche was?"

"So? What for?" Azelma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Magnon's been lying. She's been getting money from some old man on the Rue des Filles du Calvaire." 

Courfeyrac looked at them keenly. "That's where Marius' grandfather lives."

Eponine's eyes brightened. "Marius' grandfather? Oh it must be..." she trailed off as she noticed Courfeyrac's perplexed expression. "Never mind, you wouldn't quite see it the way I do..."

Courfeyrac was about to say something when he noticed another person quietly enter the Musain. "_Bonjour_, Enjolras."

Enjolras, who was carrying his law books, turned to look at the trio. "You're early, Courfeyrac...well, I shan't question your reasons for being early, but remember where you're supposed to be in a while." 

"I will," Courfeyrac said flippantly, giving Enjolras a knowing look.

"What was that about?" Azelma asked him.

"Nothing you'd understand _ma cherie_."

Eponine gave the couple a look of disgust. "I'd better go. Magnon is expecting me," she said. On her way out, she nearly shoved past Enjolras. As if seized by a sudden idea, she stopped and turned to him. "Would you know where I can find Marius now?" she asked.

Enjolras shook his head curtly. "No one knows where he goes when he's not home or at the university, _mademoiselle_."

She bit her lip. "If you had to tell someone a terrible secret, but you knew it was what really happened, then what would you do? I wouldn't know." 

"I'd think it over." Courfeyrac interjected. "It would depend on what it was."

Enjolras looked Eponine over, as if trying to make sense of the girl's random statements. "I'd have to do what was right of course. Now you'd best be on your way," he said before going into the back of the cafe. 

Eponine sighed and slipped out of the Musain. "Whatever am I to do?" she wondered. She thought of going back in to ask Azelma's advice, but decided that she was too angry to think clearly. 

She checked her hands and realized someone had slipped a whole louis d'or into them. "Why now, that's a piece of luck!" she said. She changed her direction, setting out instead for M. Mabeuf's house. As she walked, she began humming, as if trying to keep her mind off something.

"One shiner, to buy what with? I'd want to be nice to those little ones, really..." she thought. "Suppose I decided to take them with me? There'd be no lying in that, right? We'd not live so badly, I think."

She paused on a corner. "I'd better ask Parnasse about that. He was right once, maybe he'll be right again."

Little did she know what kind of a mistake that was.


	3. The Logic of Pantin

**Chapter 3: The Logic of Pantin**

"What's your name anyway?" the older of Magnon's boys asked Eponine as they walked down the street. 

Eponine looked at him sadly. "They call me Eponine. Now why don't you eat those sweets I brought for you?"

The boy shrugged, broke the sweet in half and gave one to his little brother. "_Merci_," he mumbled through a mouthful of sugar.

Eponine smiled, not caring if it looked dismal on her face. "You're a very good little boy, you know that? And your brother is so lovely too."

"Not always," the younger of the boys said. "Maman sometimes gets mad at him," he added, pointing to his brother.

Eponine clapped her hands as they got to a rose bush that grew beside the street. "He sometimes meets me here. Goodness, how cold it is! I hope Azelma is all right, and the young men treat her well."

"Who's Azelma?" the boys asked.

"_Ma soeur_," Eponine sighed. "She's not much younger than me, you know. Sometimes she's so silly, but I miss her a bit you know." 

"Don't you have a mama and papa?" one of the children asked.

"Haven't seen them in two days," the misshapen girl shrugged. She looked up and perceived a tall, slender figure at the end of the street. "_Bonjour, mon cher_!" she called. She liked the way the words seemed to escape from her lips.

"Ah Eponine." Montparnasse said, walking towards her. There was a slight smear of blood on his cuff, but otherwise, he was the very picture of an elegant dandy. He looked quizzically at the two small boys clinging to Eponine's skirt. "You're helping out Magnon?"

"It's all Azelma's doing. Ninny thought she was sick, sent me worrying so I had to ask for something," Eponine scowled.

"You're a silly one sometimes," Montparnasse said.

Eponine crossed her arms. "Not anymore. I know where Magnon got these boys. She's been using them to fool some gentleman at the Rue des Filles du Calvaire. Well, it doesn't seem right."

"_Ma cherie_, nothing is right in Pantin," the young bandit said, leaning on a lampost. "You of all people should know that." 

"They're _mon freres_, Parnasse. I can't let them get used like this," the girl argued. She wanted to mention the encounter she had at the Musain, to talk of Azelma, Courfeyrac, and Enjolras, but she knew that Montparnasse would want none of it. 

Montparnasse laughed bitterly. "Too late the concerned sister, I see? Very well then, try to be noble and tell that bourgeoisie what this business is. Do you know what will happen then?"

Eponine shook her head. "He'll stop paying." 

"Well then, can you?"

"Pardon me for intruding, but I could not help but overhear," Mamselle Miss said, walking up to them. "He's right, Eponine. What can you do?"

Eponine turned to her. "I can work for a living."

"You're fifteen, Eponine," the Englishwoman said. "Don't be a fool."

"I'll bring them home to Maman!"

"It was your mother who sold them to Magnon," Mamselle Miss retorted.

Eponine's jaw fell. "Maman did that?"

"Why do you think Gavroche lives on the street then?" Montparnasse asked.

"She beats him when he's bad."

"Well, we all must do what we can to live." Mamselle Miss said. "They, those boys too, need to live. You have to see that you have nothing to give them," she added, glancing towards where the two children were running up and down the street, laughing all the while.

"But what of..."

"The right thing?" Montparnasse pointed out. "God? You were asking?"

Eponine nodded. "Then..."

Montparnasse put a hand around her waist. "It's easy for you to think that. You're still a girl. But you have to understand, it's easier when you have a full stomach..."

Eponine turned away. "I don't want to believe you."

"What choice have you got?" Mamselle Miss said. "I went out here to ask you to go to that gentleman to get the money he always gives Magnon, but now, I'm afraid that'll be a mistake."

Eponine glared at her. "I'll go! You'll see what I can do!"

"He'll want to see the boys." Mamselle Miss said. "You'd better hold your tongue, _mademoiselle_."

Eponine nodded. "I'll go," she repeated. "Come on," she said, getting the two boys. "We'd better find that house." 

Montparnasse and Mamselle Miss watched her go with the children. "Follow her." Montparnasse told the older woman. 

Mamselle Miss bit her lip. "Surely she wouldn't." 

"Eponine was never the most reasonable person." 

Mamselle Miss sighed. "Then I'd better tell you then; the houses at the Latin Quartier look quite fit for work. The Rue Richelieu is promising too. Best of luck tonight." 

Montparnasse bowed cordially. "And to you too." 

So these two creatures of the underworld parted; one to the bloody work, the other to follow the rose in misery.


	4. Cannot Afford to Love

**Chapter 4: Not Able to Afford to Love**

More than anything, Eponine had always been a bit of a thinker. Tonight though, thinking was too much for her; she could barely keep her feet moving towards the Rue des Filles du Calvaire.

"That old man is funny. Always laughing. But he seems a little sad, as if he lost something," the older of Magnon's boys chirped as he tried to keep up with Eponine.

"Oh really? What?" Eponine asked.

The child shrugged. "Ah, there it is."

Eponine stared up at the formidable gate before her. "Did he live here once?" she wondered. From what she'd gathered from the talk and gossip about Marius, he'd once lived in this neighborhood, with a grandfather he had a falling out with.

Eponine squared her bony shoulders and knocked on the gate. "From La Magnon!" she called to the porter who opened the gate.

The porter, as if terrified, scurried into the house. Minutes after, a stately old gentleman went out of the house. His face was happy, even jovial, but there was a melancholy in his eyes.

"There you are, you two fellows. And who is the lady?" he greeted.

"She's Eponine, Maman's helper," the smaller child said.

The old man smiled at Eponine. "I'm Luc-Esprit Gillenormand."

Eponine nodded. "Magnon sent me here."

"Ah." Gillenormand said, bringing out his pocketbook. He shoved several ten franc notes into Eponine's hands. "The boys look well cared for. Ask her to do the same for you." He handed her another franc note.

Eponine's eyes widened. She hadn't seen that much money in the longest time. "_Merci!_. She'll be grateful for them," she said. She bit her lip as if to keep something from spilling from her mouth. "Can I do anything more, _Monsieur_?"

Gillenormand's smile turned into a condescending look. "Be on your way, girl. Tell Magnon I'll pay same time next month"

Eponine ushered the boys out of the gate, and was about to follow suit herself before an idea came to mind. "Say, sir, did a young man named Marius ever live here?" she asked.

Gillenormand's eyes widened, as if a sudden light threatened to overcome him. "Marius? What news of him?" he asked loudly.

Eponine stepped back, amazed. "He lives, _Monsieur_. He's well," she stammered. By now, she was becoming of the opinion that half the bourgeoisie in Paris must have been mad: first Courfeyrac, then Enjolras, then this nonagenarian.

"He's well?" Gillenormand repeated.

"That is all I know," Eponine said, turning away. She stuffed the notes into her skirt pocket as she ran alongside her little brothers.

"Ponine?" the smallest one asked.

"Yes?"

"That's enough for bread, isn't it?"

Eponine nodded. "Just for bread, and a few nice things. Nothing more." she said, hanging her head.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Who Cares About Lonely Souls?**

_June 5, 1832_

"I'd say goodbye if I knew where they were!" Eponine told herself as she continued running. She had to get back to the barricade before Marius arrived. She put a hand on her chest; partly to stifle a cough, partly also to keep Cosette's letter from falling to the ground and being discovered.

Eponine struggled to keep the tears from falling as she thought back on everyone: Montparnasse, who didn't notice her after that night at the Rue Plumet, her father and his friends too. Azelma was off somewhere, begging. She hadn't heard from her mother or her brothers ever since the Gorbeau robbery failed.

And Marius. "_Dieu_, if only I could try better..." she murmured.

She stopped at a crossroad. One path would take her out of Les Halles, and perhaps to her brothers. The other, the Rue Saint-Denis, led to the barricade. "Where to now?" she asked aloud. Only the birds' chirping answered. 

Eponine broke into a run, as if trying to leave the specters behind her. She almost stumbled as she hurtled through the gap in the rampart and into the throng. A man's howling could be heard, followed by a gunshot.

Eponine's eyes widened with horror. "I know them!" she gasped in a raspy voice. She shuddered as she looked at Claquesous' body at Enjolras' feet.

Courfeyrac turned to her. "What, _mon ami_?"

Eponine shook her head and watched as men carried away Claquesous' body. She only half-listened to the voices around her. However, she did catch some part of Enjolras' speech.

"Love? Oh if you could afford it! Death? It will come to you and me!" she laughed hollowly. She knew they were all going to die; Marius, herself, Enjolras, Courfeyrac and all the rest.

"Perhaps they are there too, waiting for me," Eponine said as she picked up a carbine. She knew all too well the death, quick by disease or violence, slow by privation and starvation, that lay for most every gamin. "Whether it comes when you're five or a hundred, does it matter?"

She thought as she rested the carbine on her knee of all the people who'd have to mourn for them all. Claquesous probably had no one. Cosette, if she knew, if she knew, would mourn for Marius. Certainly, these students had someone who'd miss them. 

But who'd miss Eponine Jondrette, formerly Thenardier?

"_Je suis desole, mon freres_..." she murmured.


End file.
